Costar Says Zillow Copyright Infringement Now Tops 53,000 Photos

CoStar Group is claiming that Zillow’s alleged infringement upon copyrighted photos owned by CoStar has continued despite the ongoing copyright infringement lawsuit CoStar filed against Zillow last July.

In an amended complaint filed on Friday, CoStar claims that Zillow has infringed on CoStar’s copyright on more than 53,000 watermarked photos across Zillow and the platforms it syndicates rental listings to, including Redfin and Realtor.com. 

Originally filed in late July,  CoStar’s lawsuit accuses Zillow of “rampant” copyright infringement of listing photos. The complaint claims that Zillow’s unauthorized use of CoStar images amounts to one of the largest real estate image infringement cases in history.

“CoStar’s decision to amend the complaint rather than respond to our motion to dismiss is yet another proof point in the weaknesses of their arguments and also a perpetual model of wastefully leveraging litigation rather than competing on the basis of product quality and consumer experience,” according to a Zillow spokesperson

In the initial complaint, CoStar claimed that Zillow had displayed nearly 47,000 CoStar-owned images on its website. As of late September 2025, CoStar claimed that Zillow had continued to display nearly 8,000 of the specific images it identified in its initial legal complaint. 

In the amended complaint, CoStar claims that Zillow’s use of its photos is a deliberate part of the company’s business strategy. According to the complaint, Zillow uses the photos in question to build listing pages for properties, including those not actively for rent, and to train its algorithms like the Zestimate. CoStar alleges that Zillow has made significant money off of CoStar’s images by using them to entice property owners and managers to claim listings and pay for a variety of advertisements and services. 

In short, the amended complaint claims that Zillow built up its rental business by taking CoStar’s photos without permission, using them to attract customers and make money, even after being warned and sued. 

“Since CoStar Group filed this lawsuit in July 2025, Zillow’s infringement has only gotten worse—and increasingly brazen,” Gene Boxer, CoStar’s general counsel, wrote in an emailed statement. “Zillow infringed thousands of new CoStar copyrighted images after being sued, many plainly stamped with our watermark, bringing the total number of images at issue to more than 53,000. Even worse, after claiming to have removed the images CoStar specifically identified in its original complaint, Zillow turned around and re-published many of those very same photographs. Zillow has the tools to stop — it is simply choosing not to, hoping that its mass-infringement scheme will return a profit. We look forward to holding Zillow to account.”

In early September 2025, a Zillow spokesperson confirmed that the company had begun removing the photos in question from its site, as the company said is standard procedure in a copyright lawsuit. 

Zillow has not yet returned HousingWire’s request for comment.